US State Department makes baseless claims against Iran (9)

The US is the only country in the world which is yet to approve children rights convention that aims to protect the most vulnerable human beings across the globe.

This convention was enforced as of September 25, 1990, and up to this date, 196 countries in the world have joined this convention.

The fact of the matter is that although the US claims to champion human rights, it is the only UN member state which has refused to join this convention.

Experts have presented a number of reasons for the US conduct. Amnesty International has stated that the US Senate and public opinion maintain a number of misunderstandings about this convention.

A wide range of conservative religious organizations in the US, such as the Christian Alliance, have long been against the approval of this convention in the US, and say that the UN children rights convention undermines the authority of parents and weakens national and state sovereignty.

The Public Interest and Human Rights Attorney, Roy Morris, has slammed the US refusal to approve the UN children rights convention and has reminded that children in the US grapple with innumerable woes and problems.

He says that the US has to sign this convention. He adds that the least we could do is to attend the UN and state that children’s rights are violated in the US.

He reprimanded the US administration for failing to defend and support children. Meanwhile, he added that, legally, in the US, we consider children as our assets and belongings.

These remarks have been made while many children rights attorneys have castigated the US president, Barack Obama, for not delivering on his vow to sign the UN children rights convention.

Morris notes that if the US refuses to respond to the demands of the international community, how can one expect other world countries to do so? He says that if the US would not sign UN conventions, such as children rights convention, it has breached the ethical principles.

According to UN children rights convention, children should have access to hygienic standards, have the right of existence, and are allowed to maintain an identity and should be supported in face of persecution. They should also be protected against military confrontations, and prostitution.

Based on international rules and regulations, children and teenagers who have committed crimes should be tried in juvenile courts and their punishments should differ from the punishments considered for adults who have committed the same crime(s). This is while 44 states in the US have not considered any difference in punishment for children and adults who commit some heavy crimes such as murder.

For instance, in the State of Florida in the US, teenagers who are older than 14, and have committed crimes are punished same as adults who have committed the same offenses. In the meantime, the US ironically piles pressure on many world countries for what it refers to as violation of children’s rights.

Based on international rules and regulations, children and teenagers who have committed offenses, should be kept in especial detention centers and should be treated in accordance to their age. The US has accepted this law, but has practically violated it on several occasions.

In accordance to international reports, every year, roughly 250,000 American children have been legally pursued under the same conditions of adults who have committed the same crimes. Latest figures have revealed that nearly 10,000 children have been tried under the same conditions of adults and are imprisoned in the same cells of adults.

Meanwhile, the US Federal rules and regulations state that employers in the US are not allowed to recruit children under the age of 14 for jobs other than farming, and the children aged 14-16 should only be recruited part time for permitted vocations.

The recruitment of hundreds of thousands of children throughout American farmlands, under difficult conditions, has deeply concerned human rights organizations. These children usually work more than ten hours a day and are exposed to pesticides, illnesses, excessive heat, and possible injuries. They suffer from nausea, headache, and other side effects resulting from the usage of toxic chemicals. Unfortunately, the US Congress is yet to make a legal decision for prohibition of children’s recruitment in American farmlands.

One of the other important topics related to children rights which was presented in the US in the year 2014, is the rights of children who have illegally entered the US, while their parents have been deported from the US due to termination of their visas. The duration of visas of 11 million migrants in the US terminated this year. This is while, the majorities of these migrants’ children are American citizens, while their parents have been deported and/or are secretly living in the US under difficult conditions. Based on a report released by the US government on migrant children, nearly 52,000 children illegal entered the US, without their families, on October 2013, and June 2014.

In addition to this problem, violence against children has generated concerns in the US. Based on the US Justice Department figures, every year, 450,000 children flee their homes in the US; many of which are entrapped within prostitution rings, and smuggling outfits. According to AP report in the year 2014, at least 789 children have lost their lives in the US as the consequence of home violence between 2008 and 2014.

Moreover, till the end of 2013, a total of 1200 minors had been imprisoned in the adults’ cells in the US. This has generated major concerns for UNICEF. In a recent report, this UN body pointed out the situation of children in 190 world countries. Based on this report, children who were exposed to violence were more prone to poverty and unemployment and were more likely to exert violence against others. This report also points out that the majorities of children, who have been massacred in West Europe and North America, were staying in the US.

These facts disclose the appalling state of human rights in the US and other Western regimes who claim to champion human rights.

MR/ME